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Watercare has started implementing its agreement with Waikato Tainui governing body Te Whakakitenga to clean up the awa.
Details of the agreement have surfaced under the Local Government Official Information Act.
Watercare chief executive Dave Chambers says under the deal struck after the company secured a 20-year consent to take up to 150 million litres a day from the Waikato River, it pay up to $1 million a year for projects to improve the water quality in the lower reaches of the river.
“The joint working party is just starting its work. It will be a five year plan. Representatives from both parties report to both organisations ad to how that funding will be allocated and particularly what outcomes will be delivered,” he says.
Mr Chalmers says Watercare has been working with Waikato Tainui since 2020 and refreshed the kawenata at the end of last year, but did not put out a press release at the time.
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